Tell City High School - Sagittarius Yearbook (Tell City, IN)

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NOBILITY OF CHARACTER liability of character is a good thing; therefore, get no- bility of character, or build it. To say that the great a in of education is character would be like carrying coals to Y'ew- castic and to assert that fcho great pxirposo of every life i3 the building of individual character would be equally trite. Yet, trite as these in cidontal attention. To judge by our worl: in school, one would conclude that scholastic attainment intellectual power, or vocational efficiency, ra- ther than character, - ero the ultimate aims of education. Mobility of character is not a matter of intelligence. ITora.l qualities spring form the heart, not from the head, They arc rooted in conscience and moral ourposc and not in the intellect. Even the most il- literate person may be trughful honest, just, •sincere in action noblo in character. Scholar- ship and integrity, intelli- gence in virtue and virtue arc not synonymous terms. The qualities they name nay be uni- ted in an individual, and it is dc3irablo that they should bo so; but they nay also be found separated. Mobility of character is not a natter of one'3 efficien- cy. Efficiency nay be moral, but it may also bo mechanical managerial, or profess j.oo.c.1. Tho term hr.3 a definite signif- icance in many fields lying be- yond tho merely ethical. The desperado may bo cruel and bru- tal in tho extremes, glorying in the instincts of the jungle without the slightest sense of moral responsibility and yet bo most efficient in his nefarious work. Efficiency i3 often found closely related to nobility of character, but there is no justi- fication in assuming that one is the source of the other, or that they are closely related. neither is nobility of char- acter a natter of money. Whet one is, not v hat he has, deter- mines hi3 character. A supercil- ious nabob, haughty and purse- proud, once 3aid to Jo’m Bright, ’’Do you know, sir, that I am worth a million pounds sterling? Yes, replied the statesman, I do; and I knur that is all you are worth. Whet a rebuke! How- poor is the individual who is worth nothing but money! Mobility of character is a personal ascot of real advantage to its possess r. Through h3m it becomes a valuable civic, asset to his community. It is not ability alone, but ability, end integrity; not cleverness alone, but clever- ness and character; not talcnt3 alone, but talents and goodne33; .not shrewdness alone, but shrewd- ness and rectitude, that call forth confidence of the people and make non real leaders. For many seniors school Is over, but building your character will ne- ver ccc.30. Guide your motives right. Be noble, and the nobleness lies In other men, sleeping, but nover dead. Will rise in majesty to noct thine own. —IT. Dixon